The Memory Keepers

Svaneti churchkey keeper Yaroslav with his grand son.

This text is not just an article – it’s also a call for a combined effort. We invite you to support our documentary film the on Svaneti frescoes and the dedicated people who maintain them. Help us to preserve Svaneti’s invaluable treasures of Orthodox Christianity for centuries to come. Georgian church art reflects exceptional artistry…

Continue reading »

Teaching Iconography in the Twenty-First Century

Study Group final image, - result of 6.5 months of work and studies.

Sharing our teaching method, I invite fellow iconographers to share their views on teaching, as only by approaching this subject from several sides can we foster a new generation of iconographers who will be better than us. The teaching method my wife Olga Shalamova and I now use took its shape gradually. In Italy in…

Continue reading »

Questions for Iconographers

An Angel from Svaneti (georgia) and a warrior from Vatopaedi monastery (Mount Athos)

Writing this text, I can’t help but feel that it opens up (or continues) a very extensive subject, which will require a lot of effort just to be introduced, and even more effort to be explained, but I will try… On February 12th, 2024 I was invited to the Andrey Rublev Museum in Moscow as…

Continue reading »

Contemporary Iconographers of Russia

From December 11, 2015 to January, 19, 2016 (Moscow, Russia) “Tsar’s Tower” exhibition hall, in Kazansky railway station, hosted a large-scale exhibition entitled “Contemporary Iconographers of Russia”. The exhibit featured sixty iconographers, masters of mosaic and gold embroidery, jewelers as well as architects from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Vladimir, Archangelsk and other Russian cities. The exhibit showcased an…

Continue reading »

A Living Tradition of Icon Painting

Icon Appearing of Christ to the Holy Myrrh Bearers

Interview with iconographers Philip Davydov and Olga Shalamova by Irina Yazykova (2010) and Andrew Gould (2014) Philip Davydov and Olga Shalamova are based in Saint Petersburg and are well-known iconographers throughout Russia and abroad. They participate in round tables and conferences, teach iconography and monumental painting, and promote the revival of iconography. Irina Yazykova: What do you think is…

Continue reading »